Educational technology terminology is messy. The same meaning is often expressed using several terms. More confusingly, some terms are used with several meanings. This state is unfortunate, as it makes both research and development more difficult. Terminology is particularly important in the case of personalization techniques, where the nuances of…

Evolution is the central concept of biology and key to a comprehensive understanding of any complex biological interaction. It has proven to be a particularly difficult subject for both teachers and students. Hybrid teaching environments have the potential to support students in learning about complex topics and simultaneously enable researchers…

The United States still has one of the lowest evolution acceptance rates in the world. Biology educators have been diligent in their methods to increase evolution acceptance and knowledge, with much success. However, misconceptions still arise through education, textbooks, and even social and religious settings that may influence our citizens' low…

Rural communities around the United States are facing a critical shortage of teachers due largely to challenges with recruitment and retention. Our vision for responding to this growing crisis is to consider how technology-rich early rural field experiences that emphasize "place-attentive" technology integration can build preservice…

After schools closed in March of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students, families and teachers had to shift learning from in-class to online. But the switch to remote learning was hasty and disorganized in many school districts. Families struggled with the technology and coordinating schedules at home, while teachers tried to shift the…

This article provides computational and rule-based approaches for detecting confusion that is expressed in students' comments in couse forums. To obtain reliable, ground truth data about which posts exhibit student confusion, we designed a decision tree that facilitates the manual labeling of forum posts by experts. However, manual labeling is…

Videos are often used for demonstration and evaluation, but a more productive approach would be using video to support teachers' ability to notice and interpret classroom interactions. That requires thinking carefully about the physical aspects of shooting video--where the camera is placed and how easily student interactions can be heard--as well…

Distance learning, whether completely remote or in combination with classroom experiences, can pose challenges for teachers, students, and families. Pre-assessment to plan instruction can help guide the instructional planning process and improve the distance learning experience for students with disabilities, as well as for other students. This…

In this article, I share how SQUAD Art Studio functions as an alternative, community-based, multisite Saturday art lab school for negotiating theory and practice with preservice art educators. SQUAD Art Studio educators' work confronts developmentalist images of children and preconceptions about young children and digital media. We revalue images…

The computer game sensation "Minecraft" has become a mainstay amongst school students of all ages. Anecdotally, at Geoscience Australia, we have observed that "Minecrafters" often draw comparisons between their Minecraft experiences and the real world. For some students, the line between reality and fantasy is blurred. At the…

Educators often have the feeling that they are finding it harder and harder to reach their students. That is why they are so feverishly interested in smartboards or learning platforms or anything new on the market that might help. Every new tool seems like a possible solution, although sometimes educators really don't know what the problem is or…

The through-the-air mode is the "real engine" for thought and communication, and that on which secondary representations such as print or Braille are based. This should not be construed as an either-or; it is important to develop high levels of thought in both through-the- air and the corresponding secondary (or captured) modes. It is…

Today's traditional-aged college students are avid users of mobile technology. Commonly referred to as the Net Generation, today's college students spend several hours each day using their smart phones, iPads, and laptops. Although some scholars initially opined that the Net Generation would grow into technologically savvy digital natives who…

The electrophilic addition of a hydrohalic acid (HX) to an alkene is often one of the first reactions learned in second-year undergraduate organic chemistry classes. During the ensuing discussion of the mechanism, it is shown that this reaction follows Markovnikov's rule, which states that the hydrogen atom will attach to the carbon with fewer…

Climate change is at the forefront of our cultural conversation about science, influencing everything from presidential debates to Leonardo DiCaprio's 2016 Oscar acceptance speech. The topic is becoming increasingly socially and scientifically relevant but is no closer to being resolved. Most high school students take a life science course but…