Although self-directed learning is considered important in both educational practice and theory as a 21st century skill and as a means to motivate students, most teachers find it difficult to integrate self-directed learning into their practice. An instrumental case study was conducted to investigate how teachers at four innovative Dutch secondary…

Differentiated instruction (DI) is an effective instructional strategy to maximize individual students' abilities; in practice, however, its implementation appears to be problematic. To better understand teachers' perspectives on DI and the effect different teaching contexts can have, we explored teachers' interactive cognitions of DI in their…

The present study is about sensitive issues in history teaching that have probably been experienced by most teachers in the field. We conducted a questionnaire study in Austria, Belarus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Serbia and The Netherlands to assess which issues were experienced as sensitive in class, what the reasons were…

In the present study we investigated experimentation abilities of children with learning problems in early childhood education, i.e. kindergarten (4-6 years old). An essential part of science education is learning via the scientific method, of which experimentation is the central component. We studied experimentation abilities in 28 kindergartners…

Although most second language learning studies involve high-educated participants, addressing low-educated participants seems important as research suggests that education background impacts second language (L2) learning efficiency. A controversial point in the L2 learning literature is the role of corrective feedback (CF). Research on CF in…

This study investigated potential differences in inductive behavioural and verbal strategy-use between children (aged 6-8 years) from indigenous and non-indigenous backgrounds. This was effected by the use of an electronic device that could present a series of tasks, offer scaffolded assistance and record children's responses. Children from…

In this paper we investigated the contribution of a dynamic testing procedure, including multiple graduated prompts protocols, in identifying differences in need for instruction of second grade children (N = 120) with arithmetic difficulties. The training was adaptive and prompts were provided according to one of six protocols, each focusing on a…

The notion of complexity--as in "education is a complex system"--has two different meanings. On the one hand, there is the epistemic connotation, with "Complex" meaning "difficult to understand, hard to control". On the other hand, complex has a technical meaning, referring to systems composed of many interacting…

The authors investigate the relationship between student learning choices and learning styles in the use of an innovative learning environment for statistics. For teaching introductory statistics to first-year students in economics and business, Maastricht University uses a blended learning environment. It allows students to individualize learning…

Examined effects of conceptually based instruction on development of students' procedural flexibility. Students in primary schools in the Netherlands participated in one of two instruction programs: the Realistic Program Design (RPD) or the Gradual Program Design (GPD). In both programs, conceptual understanding preceded procedural skill. However,…