Separation of variables can be a powerful technique for solving many of the partial differential equations that arise in physics contexts. Upper-division physics students encounter this technique in multiple topical areas including electrostatics and quantum mechanics. To better understand the difficulties students encounter when utilizing the…

The objective of this study is to evaluate, according to the opinions of teachers, the problems faced by the children of Syrian families who have taken refuge in Turkey since 2011 with regard to their linguistic and communication skills, as well as their reading and writing process in Turkish as a foreign language. The research group is composed…

The objective of this study is to describe the way in which two important biological phenomena, namely diffusion and osmosis, are addressed in the classroom. The study builds on extensive research conducted over the past twenty years showing that students' appropriation of these two phenomena remains partial and incomplete. To understand some of…

Research in physics education indicates that the use of multiple representations in teaching and learning helps students become better problem-solvers. We report on a study to investigate students' difficulties in solving mechanics problems presented in multiple representations. We conducted teaching/learning interviews with 20 students in a…

This paper uses data from interviews with representatives of national and state organisations that have a policy interest in student-working in Australia. The interviewees included representatives from employer bodies and trade unions as well as government organisations. The data are used to discuss these stakeholders' perceptions of the main…

A perceived difficulty is associated with physics problem solving from a learner's viewpoint, arising out of a multitude of reasons. In this paper, we have examined the microstructure of students' thought processes during physics problem solving by combining the analysis of responses to multiple-choice questions and semistructured student…

This study investigated how a teacher in a multilingual classroom attempted to support learners who are struggling to translate written/verbal mathematics into a symbolic form. Thirty-six Grade ten learners in one multilingual classroom in South Africa were given a written test involving one algebraic question and then a discussion on the solution…

This qualitative study examines the interplay between academic staff and international students with regard to developing academic literacies at university. Higher education has traditionally responded to increasing student diversity with the expectation that students will conform to institutional norms or habitus. In this context international…

The aim of this study was to investigate multiprofessional collaboration as well as collaboration between professionals and challenging students and their parents in which the focus for these collaborations was on handling the challenging students' academic and social behavior. A grounded theory study of collaboration between a prereferral…

Following terrorist events, teachers and nonteaching school personnel are important in helping children recover, yet little is known about their willingness to assist with this. We surveyed 399 employees from a Washington, D.C.-area school district following terror attacks (September 11, 2001, attacks; sniper shootings) about their exposure,…

Throughput and retention are important issues in higher education in South Africa mainly due to the stronger emphasis on accountability from funding agencies like the Department of Education. This study, which is set in a distance education institution, was aimed at understanding why students cancel courses early on in the academic year. A…

We present the results of an interview study investigating student experiences in two online introductory computer science courses. Our theoretical approach is situated at the intersection of two research traditions: "distance and adult education research," which tends to be sociologically oriented, and "computer science education…

Purpose: This study sought deeper understanding of how sheltered families accessed and mobilized educationally related relationships and resources during periods of homelessness. Such work is posited to be especially relevant considering that there is a growing crisis of family homelessness in the United States and school- and community-based…

This study discusses the effects of using multimedia assisted instruction for Mandarin vocabulary learning by Vietnamese students with the assistance of the ASSURE model. The aim is to understand the difficulties encountered by these students and the effects during the learning progress of multimedia assisted instruction. In order to fulfill the…

Many studies report positive learning experience and improved performance in online collaborative learning. However, such learning can also incur unnecessary or excessive stress with a resultant adverse effect on the learning. This study aimed to determine the stress factors in online collaborative learning as perceived by 226 Japanese university…