Whilst Productive Failure (Kapur, "Cognition and Instruction," 26:379-424, 2008, "Instructional Science," 38:523-550, 2010; Kapur & Bielaczyc, "Journal of the Learning Sciences" 21:45-83, 2012) has been shown to be efficacious in deepening students' learning of mathematics in Singapore classrooms, an action…

Due to the challenges of all-round development, higher-education students are increasingly demanding more flexible learning that goes beyond the on-campus/online dichotomy. However, university students miss learning opportunities because of the conflict of time and space. Blended learning is an effective way to create more learning opportunities…

This qualitative study explores student learning progression through reflective writing on a tertiary-level course in social work. The study is based on the content analysis of three sets of data: student reflective writing, instructor formative feedback on this writing, and student end-of-course reflections. Our findings demonstrate that…

Little is known about the integration of current neuroscience knowledge to classroom teaching, although many teachers rely on neuromyths to shape their pedagogies. Through a professional development approach, the learning study, we explored how teachers learned to apply neuroscience to teaching instruction. The teachers collaborated to design,…

The creation of action research cycles is a fundamental part of action research projects. The aim of this article is to present the methodological challenge that is inherent in designing action research cycles. The article reports on my lived experience as I conceptualised and implemented a structured and systematic way of ordering and reporting…

In our pursuit to broaden and deepen understandings of what it means to engage in an assessment activity, we explored the designing and implementing of a geometry performance task as an instantiation of authentic assessment to assess elementary school students' mathematics learning. Using participatory action research, we incorporated a…

Individual differences (IDs) play an important role in the second language learning process and explain the varied experiences of the L2 learner. The two major IDs, language aptitude and motivation, can be primary factors in one's ultimate proficiency. While language aptitude is largely fixed, motivation is malleable and can aid in overcoming…

Testing has been a contested aspect of education for decades. The way in which testing, standardized tests, and student motivations correlate is a separate issue. This action research study investigates the relationship between pre-tests and students' perception of their personal growth. Three classes of 11th grade U.S. History were utilized to…

This paper presents the results of a Classroom Action Research (CAR) on the use of Nearpod, an online platform that facilitates the use of interactive teaching material using mobile devices, to conduct a formative assessment in the classroom. There are two aims of this study. First, exploring the effectiveness of using Nearpod to conduct in-class…

The qualitative study referred to here investigated what a class of undergraduate pre-service music teachers could learn from conducting a piece of action research for primary 5 pupils in Hong Kong. Data were collected from lesson observations, post-lesson conferences with the pre-service teachers, their presentations and individual reflection…

Students learn best when teachers get out of the way. Unfortunately, university classrooms continue to be intensely teacher-centric, are driven by the teacher's agenda and calendar, and embrace simple models rather than complex alternatives. These simple types of learning environments frustrate students' development of the risk-­taking and choice…

This article reports on an action research project that proposes to improve the reading comprehension and vocabulary of undergraduate students of English for Specific Purposes--explosives majors, at a police training institute in Colombia. I used the qualitative research method to explore and reflect upon the teaching-learning processes during…

English plays an important role for the life of the people of East Timor. So it is studied from secondary to tertiary schools. However, the resources of English are not sufficiently available. Under the development concerns the conditions that are faced by both the educator and learners in English as a foreign language course at the university.…

This report describes a plan for using the multiple intelligences to increase student motivation. The target population consisted of a sixth grade reading class in a rural setting, and second, fourth, and fifth grade students in a pullout ESL (English-as-a-Second-Language) program in an urban setting. The lack of motivation became evident as…

This action research paper describes a program initiated by teacher researchers to improve academic achievement and interest in social studies. The targeted group consisted of fifth graders in a lower middle class community in the Midwest. Analysis of the problem-causes data show three main factors: curriculum, attitude, and effect. In regard to…