Research has focused on students' difficulties understanding phenomena in which agency is distributed across actors whose individual-level behaviors converge to result in collective outcomes. Building on Levy and Wilensky (2008), this study identified features of distributed causality students understand and that may offer affordances for…

The research shared in this conference paper report illustrates how an iterative process to item development that involves expert review and cognitive lab interviews with students can be used to collect evidence of validity for assessment items. Analysis of students' reasoning was also used to expand a model for identifying conceptions and…

We gave participants diagrams of traffic on two roads with information about eight attributes, including the type of each vehicle, its speed, direction and the width of the road. Their task was to record and organize the data to assist city planners in its analysis. Successfully encoding the information required the creation of a case, a physical…

The nature of students' ideas about the scientific practices used by astronomers when studying objects in our Solar System is of widespread interest to discipline-based astronomy education researchers. A sample of middle-school, high-school, and college students (N = 42) in the U.S. were interviewed about how astronomers were able to learn about…

Conceptions of ecological processes such as the flow of energy and cycling of matter in an ecosystem are increasingly important understandings in a rapidly changing world. This study utilizes a p-prims, or knowledge in pieces, lens to examine understandings and disconnections in students' conceptualizations of energy flow and matter cycling…

The role middle school building leadership teams have in professional development (PD), through a distributed leadership model, was explored in this multiple-case study. There is minimal research regarding the impact of middle school building leadership teams (BLTs) related to their responsibilities of professional development. The intent of this…

Now the demand for skilled labor is urgent. Development of skilled labor has been done in various ways either through education and training. Indonesia, especially North Sumatra state nurture some vocational schools that produce graduates which are expected to be ready for working, but have not been able to meet these expectations. Therefore we…

Three teachers and one assistant principal were recruited from a middle school in a large metropolitan area of the southwestern United States to implement evidence-based practices (EBP). The teachers implemented EBPs in self-continued classrooms to ameliorate the disruptive behavior of three students. The recruited teachers and assistant principal…

The purpose of this case study was to understand non-mastery for students in the mBolden Academic Model at Piedmont City Middle School (PCMS). The following research questions guided this study: How does the mBolden Academic Model influence student success at Piedmont City Middle School? Furthermore, this study has answered the following…

Students' mental models of diffusion in a gas phase solution were studied through the use of the Structure and Motion of Matter (SAMM) survey. This survey permits identification of categories of ways students think about the structure of the gaseous solute and solvent, the origin of motion of gas particles, and trajectories of solute particles in…

Bullying prevention and intervention are ongoing challenges for all educators, school psychologists included. A lack of research exists regarding the potential role of middle school students as direct actors in bullying prevention and intervention. This article describes a novel student leadership group for seventh graders in which the primary…

The pedagogical practice of connecting mathematical content to real world contexts, particularly contexts relevant to students' knowledge and experiences, can positively impact student motivation as well as promote conceptual understanding. However, little is known about how middle school teachers actually make relevant world connections, and more…

The purpose of this study was: (1) to analyze increasing students' learning activity and learning outcomes. Student activities which were observed include the visual, verbal, listening, writing and mental visual activity; (2) to analyze the improvement of student learning outcomes using "Round Table" and "Rally Coach" Model of…

Environmental education is essential for people to pursue sustainable development. In Taiwan, environmental education is taught to students until they graduate from junior high school. This study was conducted to establish an assessment system for junior high schools to select appropriate environmental education facilities and sites. A mix of…

At the end of primary school all children more of less know what a percentage is, but yet they often struggle with percentage problems. This article describes a study in which students of 13 and 14 years old were given a written test with percentage problems and a week later were interviewed about the way they solved some of these problems. In a…