While team learning within engineering classrooms has been studied, minimal work has been done examining out-of-classroom collaboration to complete individual deliverables. However, such informal peer collaboration (IPC) is common among engineering undergraduates, and some evidence exists that low levels of IPC are associated with poorer learning…

Traditionally, assessing and grading students in science has been an exercise centered around points and percentages (Feldman, Kropf, and Alibrandi 1989; Prøitz 2013). However, with the introduction of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the need to revisit grading practices stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, an increasing number of…

The objective of this research study is to explore the teachers and parents' perspectives on implementing homework in primary education. The research depends on the system activity theory playing a crucial role in education. This study used qualitative methodology and data from 20 teachers and 20 parents. Data collected with semi-structured…

Parental involvement in learning, entertainment, emotion, and daily care is crucial to the growth and development of children. Due to the increasing significance of educational attainment in China, parental involvement in child learning is receiving ever-increasing weight and is now the most prevalent of the four aspects. In the wake of the…

Standards-based grading (SBG) is an assessment/grading system that attaches scores to the mastery level of specific learning objectives. This methodology is gaining momentum in the K-12 environment but has been largely overlooked at the post-secondary level. In this paper, I will discuss the implementation of this practice in a College Algebra…

Maximize learning by making grades more meaningful and motivating to students. With the support of this practical guide, professional learning communities (PLCs) will discover a clear road map for implementing a standards-based grading system at the secondary level. The authors provide all of the actionable ideas and tools needed to not only…

Specifications grading is a version of mastery grading distinguished by giving students clear specifications that their work must meet, and grading most things pass/fail based on those specifications. Mastery grading systems can get quite elaborate, with hierarchies of objectives and various systems for rewriting and retesting. In this article I…

This study examined United States (U.S.) K-12 science teacher interactions with parents during Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) reform following teachers' professional development (PD) participation, as well as parent accounts of understanding and support for NGSS. Fourteen teachers and 15 parents completed an online surveys and phone…

Family engagement in middle school is essential to ensure optimal learning. Middle-level educators (typically Grades 5 or 6 through Grade 8 in the U.S.) play a pivotal role in helping to guide parents' understanding of their evolving roles in supporting their adolescents' academic success. Students particularly benefit from (a) parental support…

The problem of Computer Science students' cheating in their homework assignments so far has been handled mainly through administrative punishment of the cheaters. The success of such an approach depends to a large degree on the ability of the instructor to recognize the fact of cheating, which is a complicated task. With a large number of students…

Background: Sedentary behavior is linked to many adverse health outcomes; however, its relationship with academic achievement is less understood. We examined sedentary behavior's impact on academic achievement over 3 years in 4408 adolescents from the COMPASS study. Methods: Sedentary behavior (screen-based: watching/streaming television…

Researchers invested in K-12 education struggle not just to enhance pedagogy, curriculum, and student engagement, but also to harness the power of technology in ways that will optimize learning. Online learning platforms offer a powerful environment for educational research at scale. The present work details the creation of an automated system…

The 2011 study, "Benefits of Practicing 4 = 2 + 2: Nontraditional Problem Formats Facilitate Children's Understanding of Mathematical Equivalence," examined the effects of addition practice using nontraditional problem formats on students' understanding of mathematical equivalence. In nontraditional problem formats, operations appear on…

Throughout the decades of educational reform cycles, the value of homework has proven either meaningful or meaningless depending on the reforming framework. Questions about homework as simply busy work or knowledge work, mere content distraction or content extension, ambivalence toward importance, or discipline of character all cloud any…

For the forty-first time, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two volumes. Volume 1 contains twenty-seven…