Ripple Effects Mapping (REM) is a qualitative data analysis approach that combines mind mapping with inductive analysis to condense data obtained from group interviews. One benefit of REM is the ability to identify unintended outcomes, or "ripples," of the intervention of interest. Ripples are visually represented by a mind map created…

Ireland's government placed a renewed focus on the teaching and learning of numeracy with the publication of a national strategy in 2011. Whole-school planning for numeracy was already a requirement for disadvantaged schools also known as Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) in Ireland. This single site case study explored how a…

Recent approaches to statistics education situate the teaching and learning of statistics within cycles of statistical inquiry. Learners pose questions, plan, and collect, represent, analyse and interpret data. We focus on the first step -- posing statistical questions. Posing statistical questions is a critical step as questions inform the types…

Via diverse content including programmes, songs and child-led social media channels, children are constantly exposed to commercially funded messages encouraging purchase behaviour. While there is no definitive agreement that advertising to children is detrimental to their wellbeing (Rowthorn, 2019), there is an enduring concern over the unintended…

Mathematics is a foundation subject within Computer Science which students continue to find challenging. Technology-enhanced learning pedagogies provide opportunities to improve educational learning outcomes, supporting dialogue and best practice. Research conducted over a three-year period at National College of Ireland's "Introduction to…

Our aim here is to investigate reading in a foreign language from a multilingual perspective. Much research has focused on first- and second-language reading, especially the important role played by strategy deployment in helping readers to make meaning from texts in different languages. Less emphasis has been placed, however, on how bilinguals…

This article elucidates a participatory design process in which a prototype iBook was embedded within the context of secondary science classrooms through multiple interventions. The fundamental design intention of the iBook is to increase students' ocean literacy in a curriculum that lacks marine science. Two e-learning ecologies were identified…

This paper presents results of a study investigating four teaching methods used to introduce Chinese characters to beginner learners of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) in an Irish secondary school between September 2016 and October 2016. Approximately 98 learners aged 14-16 were divided into four groups and taught for two one-hour classes per…

Convincing teachers to implement pedagogical innovations is notoriously hard. This research project investigated the shift in pedagogical approach among a small group of faculty as they replaced traditional lecture-based methods with problem-based learning projects. Interviews were conducted with eight drivers of this change, around the question:…

The Republic of Ireland has a history of high reading scores in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Analysis from PISA 2018 shows that although the country has many cultural similarities to the four UK nations (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland), 15-year-old pupils in the Republic of Ireland achieved…

In light of cultural and demographic changes in the Republic of Ireland, there is an important and urgent need for research on the articulation of values education in Irish publicly-managed schools. This article reports the findings from a research project on the moral, religious and spiritual values and traditions of staff and students in…

Young people from areas of socioeconomic disadvantage (SED) are more likely to present with language difficulties, particularly vocabulary difficulties. Studies have shown the effectiveness of vocabulary interventions for children with language impairment but not for adolescents from areas of SED. This article aims to establish the effectiveness…

Purpose: In this article the use of blended learning multimedia materials as an education tool was compared with the traditional approach for skills training. Design/Methodology/Approach: This study was conducted in Ireland using a pre-test, post-test experimental design. All students were instructed on how to complete two skills using either a…

Open educational practices (OEP) is a broad descriptor of practices that include the creation, use, and reuse of open educational resources (OER) as well as open pedagogies and open sharing of teaching practices. As compared with OER, there has been little empirical research on individual educators' use of OEP for teaching in higher education.…

Research suggests that there are two major reasons for the low numbers taking Higher Level mathematics in Ireland: namely, ineffective teaching and a subsequent lack of student interest in the subject. Traditional styles of teaching make it difficult for students to take an interest in a confusing topic in which they can see no immediate…