We investigated the effects of social interaction and out-of-class study time on foreign language proficiency and use among two hundred students from a Japanese university who studied abroad for one month. Participants' use of English and English proficiency were measured before and after the programme. Interaction with people from other cultures…

The objective of this case study was to identify the role of finger gestures in learning mathematics informally during play, especially in sociocultural settings. A mathematical activity involving addition was qualitatively analyzed at a Japanese preschool. We explored how the process of subjectification and objectification contributed to a…

This article describes the possibilities of art workshops which have been conducted in Fukushima Prefecture that were affected by the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant accident on March 11, 2011. In coastal areas, many people experienced unexpected domestic migrations/relocations and unwelcome changes in their lives due to the disaster,…

Self-direction skill (SDS) is an essential 21st-century skill that can help learners be independent and organized in their quest for knowledge acquisition. While some studies considered learners from higher education levels as the target audience, providing opportunities to start the SDS practice by K12 learners is still rare. Further, practicing…

In-class group work activities are found to promote the interpersonal skills of learners. To support the teachers in facilitating such activities, we designed a learning analytics-enhanced technology framework, Group Learning Orchestration Based on Evidence (GLOBE) using data-driven approaches. In this study, we implemented the algorithmic group…

Due to the predominance of test-oriented practice, one major challenge faced in Japanese high school classrooms is the lack of learning activities to develop higher order thinking. The purpose of this action research study was to explore an extracurricular blended learning program created to develop the higher order thinking of English language…

Statistical literacy, encompassing the interpretation and evaluation of statistical reports, is a skill developed in schools. However, the pedagogical approaches to statistical literacy skills have not been sufficiently investigated. This study investigated whether statistical literacy skills could be demonstrated through high school lessons.…

This study quantifies the effectiveness of the leadership development program (LDP) in women's colleges presented by Iwaki et al. (2021), namely that leadership is to influence others to produce results, is acquired, and can be exercised and developed by anyone. In the model, the transformation in the 'motivation' aspect leads to the 'behavior',…

Inclusive education has been promoted in recent years; however, its inadequacies and the difficulty of its practical application have been pointed out. Hence, this study presents a scheme of learning according to the conditions of a person's disability and proposes a hypothetical teaching method that accommodates various degrees of disability. The…

In response to a globalised education context that places increasing pressure on higher education institutions for pedagogical innovation and reform, universities are attempting to carve out more meaningful identities through reimagining campus design. As universities introduce more decentralised spaces, from strictly learning environments to a…

"Assumptions" play a fundamental role in disciplinary mathematical practice, especially concerning the relativity of truth. However, much is still unclear about ways to help students recognize key aspects of this role. In this paper, we propose a set of principles for task design to introduce students to the role of assumptions in…

It is considered important to clarify the role of technology and engineering education for evolving STEM/STEAM education in each country. However, in Japan, unlike in other countries, the focus on STEAM education began after 2018, so the relevance of STEAM education to technology and engineering education has not yet been fully discussed.…

Employing membership categorization analysis and conversation analysis, we uncover how students performing classroom discussion tasks for language learning locally ascribe themselves and others to various identity categories within single discussion activities. Data consist of 126 hours of video-recorded small-group discussions for second language…

Similar to countries in Europe and the Americas, risky play is a feature in Japanese early childhood education and care. This study investigated the perceptions and practices of Japanese early childhood education specialists with respect to risky play in order to ascertain whether their childhood experiences influenced their attitudes toward…

In this article, we, culture bearers and music educators, discuss ways of using East Asian virtual musical instruments to promote culturally diverse music activities in classrooms. We introduce affordable tablet-based virtual instruments (Korean "hyang-piri," Chinese "erhu," and Japanese "koto") and hands-on music…