Science education has an important role in educating the public on learning strategies that will generate a scientific literate population. The challenges encountered in this time of crisis calls for individuals to make well-informed decisions, based on reliable information. Understanding scientific basic concepts can inform the population on…

In this position paper, we introduce the concept of socioscientific capital (SSC) to denote students' resources that unequivocally play a part when students learn about and make decisions regarding socioscientific issues (SSIs). Students use a variety of resources when they engage with SSI. Our conceptualization of SSC expands on current…

In 2016, there were 4.9 million students identified as English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. public schools who undergo testing. Students identified as ELLs are allowed to use paperback bilingual dictionaries during testing as an accommodation. When deciding whether to provide the accommodation, teachers need to consider several factors. First,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how associationism mistakenly assumes that direct experience is possible; that is, there is expectation-free observation and association without prior expectation. Thus, associationism assumes that learning involves the absorption of information from the environment itself. However, contrary…

Educators have been challenged to identify threshold concepts and develop transformed students. This stands in stark contrast to many curriculum design and delivery models that currently view students as repositories of knowledge. In this article, we argue that educators can reach both goals, identify stumbling blocks and transforming students,…

As a new century begins for "The Modern Language Journal," we argue that highly effective pedagogy requires viewing language and language learning as both cognitive and social phenomena, and that teachers who seek to truly understand the nature of their responsibilities do not have the luxury of choosing one perspective over the other.…

Many postsecondary institutions, and community colleges in particular, require that students demonstrate specified levels of literacy and numeracy before taking college-level courses. Typically, students have been assessed using two widely available tests--ACCUPLACER and Compass. However, placement testing practice is beginning to change for three…

In an effort to gain better understanding of the assessment of prior informal and non-formal learning, this article explores assessors' approaches to portfolio assessment. Through this portfolio assessment, candidates had requested exemptions from specific courses within an educational programme or admission to the programme based on their prior…

Background: Grouping students into classes by ability on a subject-by-subject basis, also known as setting, is a common practice in many educational systems. An important issue is therefore the way in which setting decisions are made. While educators and policy-makers favouring setting claim that ability or achievement is the sole criterion used,…

The Juvenile and Adolescent Substance Abuse Prevention Program (JASAP) is a curriculum-based prevention and health promotion program for youth between the ages of 13 to 18 years in Fulton County, Georgia. The program was established in 2007 to promote healthy decision-making skills that would eventually lead to informed choices and decisions…

In this article, a university researcher and two teacher researchers collaborated in a classroom study of how 26 American fourth graders (9-year-olds) used primary source photographs to evaluate the historical significance of events in their community's past. Interpreting the photographs as historical evidence, students generated ideas and…

Reviews current literature about personal, demographic, situational, and cognitive attributes that affect computer-aided decision making. The effectiveness of computer-aided decision making is explored in relation to decision quality, effectiveness, and confidence. Studies of the effects of age, anxiety, cognitive type, attitude, gender, and prior…