The global learning community, led by researchers in fields such as psychology, sociology and pedagogics, had arrived at a consensus about the social "and" biological nature of learning until work in epigenetics brought new insights. After a brief overview of learning theories and the role of the environment, recent findings from…

Recent findings in behavioral genetics and technological advances have the potential to alter education administration in ways that were inconceivable just a decade ago. Specifically, new understandings about the heritability of educational outcomes and the ability to calculate polygenic scores that predict likely student outcomes could change how…

Participants in longitudinal studies that followed children into adulthood now have children of their own, which has enabled researchers to establish multiple-generation cohorts. In this article, I illustrate the benefits of multiple-generation cohort studies for developmental researchers, including: (a) the impact of child and adolescent…

Epigenetic processes, and the investigative practices that take these as their focus, are of increasing interest to a range of professionals beyond biomedicine. This has been piqued by, especially, the belief that bioscientific research is demonstrating new molecular mechanisms through which the social and physical environment impact upon the…

Interest in the study of gene-environment interaction has recently grown due to the sudden availability of molecular genetic data--in particular, polygenic scores--in many long-running longitudinal studies. Identifying and estimating statistical interactions comes with several analytic and inferential challenges; these challenges are heightened…

This paper examines the genetic ("nature") and environmental ("nurture") influences on why students vary in their reading skills. We review core findings from the field of modern behavioral genetics, a discipline that studies the interplay of genetic and environmental influences, on reading science. Additionally, we provide an…

Some students with gifts and talents (SWGT) are among the thousands of youths who die by suicide every year, although there is no way to know how many. Research indicates they are not more likely to engage in suicidal behaviors than other students. They do have unique risk and protective factors, however. Risk factors can accumulate to outweigh…

The field of epigenetics is progressing rapidly and becoming indispensable to the study of fundamental gene regulation. Recent advances are redefining our understanding of core components that regulate gene expression during development and in human diseases. Scientific knowledge on the importance of epigenetic regulation is now well known and…

The rapidly growing field of epigenetics is now beginning to reveal how our genes are affected by environmental factors such as nutrition, exercise and stress. As it has such profound effects on our everyday lives, this article argues for the inclusion of epigenetics in the compulsory school science curriculum, and explores trainee science…

Individuals of the same species display remarkable variation in behavior, even in identical contexts. Increasing complexity in behavioral phenotypes brings with it an increase in individual variation in the manifestation of those phenotypes, and human behavior undoubtedly stands at the pinnacle of complexity. In this article, we discuss current…

Many students have very robust misconceptions about natural selection, stemming from intuitive theories that form a child's earliest understandings of the natural world. For example, students often imagine that species evolve in response to environmental pressures that cause a need for change and that all individuals in the population…

In this commentary, I highlight key insights from research on learning disabilities (LD) reported in this special issue. Authors of each article describe innovative work that is expanding frontiers of LD knowledge, by focusing on vulnerable and understudied populations, using multiple methodologies and data sources, and building and refining…

Conduct disorder (CD) is a pattern of repeated aggression toward others, disregard for the rights of others, and behaviors that violate major social norms at home, in school, and even in society at large (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). Falling under the umbrella of "conduct problems" along with oppositional defiant…

This article describes a self-guided, story-like game with creative drawing for grades 3-5 that teaches the evolution concepts of adaptation, natural selection, ecosystem dynamics, inheritance, and mutation following the "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS"). Drawing reinforces concepts through emphasis on students'…

The term "polymath" refers to a person whose expertise approaches different subject areas, to rely on complex packages of knowledge for solving problems. Famous polymaths from history include Galileo Galilei, Leonardo da Vinci, Mozart, and Albert Einstein; individuals that have impacted science, arts, humanities, and our society for…